Warning: SPOILERS for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes are in play. If you haven’t seen the film just yet, you’ve been warned.
When I went out to see the 2024 movie Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, I expected an epic in director Wes Ball’s new chapter of simian supremacy. And knowing that the legacy of Andy Serkis’ Caesar was going to be shown through several centuries of evolution, I certainly had my mind keyed in to find all the easter eggs and references to the past history of some of the best sci-fi movies.
Yet even with all of that loaded into my mind, I did not expect the absolutely heartbreaking opening to Kingdom. After reading some comments from franchise producers/writers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, I totally agree with why it had to happen. So if you haven’t become familiar with the first chapter in the book of Noa, you won’t want to proceed past this point.
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Heartbreaking Opening
Besides the usual title cards that, starting with 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, fill the audience in on previous installments, the latest Apes movie begins on a seriously sad note. Opening with Caesar’s funeral after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, we see Maurice (Karen Konaval) and the rest of our hero ape’s followers mourning his passing through a formal ceremony.
Burned on a funeral pyre, those who celebrate the life of this leader raise their arms into the air. Making a very familiar gesture, the message couldn’t be clearer: apes together strong. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ opening absolutely crushed my heart, as I didn’t expect such an intimate connection to Caesar himself. But as you’re about to read, that decision wasn’t made merely to milk the tears out of the eyes of fans like myself.
What Rick Jaffa Said About Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Caesar Funeral
Shortly after Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ impressive opening weekend, CinemaBlend’s own Adam Holmes spoke with franchise producers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver on behalf of the film. In that conversation, there were a couple of reasons that both parties provided when it came to arriving at the conclusion that this was the right decision.
As he started addressing the subject with CinemaBlend, Rick Jaffa threw out this very important reason for Caesar’s funeral scene to be included:
One is to really ground the movie and specific way to say to the audience, ‘Yes, Caesar is gone, but the movie will explore his legacy.’ In other words, it's not just saying that the crawl that he had died. It's like, so here we are seeing him. That was one of the things that's really grounded.
Reading information on a title card is informative, and it can still be pretty fun. Star Wars made the practice a cultural icon by doing it with a certain flare. But to show Caesar being mourned after War for the Planet of the Apes’ ending only drove the point home more effectively.
That became even more important through Rick’s other reason for including the funeral, which kept a very common concern in mind:
Also, the thing is that you're not sure how many people didn't see the first three movies that are gonna see this one. And so we felt it was also important to show that and let audiences who didn't know about Caesar understand visually that he was important, revered and that he's gone.
While I’m someone who’s seen the Caesar trilogy of Planet of the Apes movies time and again, not everyone is going to know to use their Hulu subscription and stream them. Also, in a world where cinematic universes require their audience to “do the homework,” having a proper entry point into something like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is very important.
But as producer Amanda Silver contributed her own reasons as to why this bridge between past and present was important, it all came back to the emotional heart of the film.
How Amanda Silver Further Reinforced This Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Decision
“Emotional” is the absolutely correct term to use in describing how Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ opening hits the audience. That was one of the key words that stuck out with me when reading Amanda Silver’s remarks about the opening. Picking up from where her husband had left off, Ms. Silver continued this line of thought thusly:
The other thing that you get from the visualization of this funeral is the emotion of it. Like if you're an audience member, you're sitting down with your popcorn, lights are out, and you're sitting there, and there's just a crawl, there's a lot of using your brain. ‘I’m reminding myself: flu, Caesar, all these [things].’ It's been a while since the audience has War, but the visualization of the funeral is an emotional thing.
As if the visuals weren’t enough of a marker reminding us of the events of Planet of the Apes’ past, the language of the music plants that seed in our minds. Composer John Paesano’s cue “Discovery” expertly harkens back to Michael Giacchino’s musical motifs through Dawn and War for the Planet of the Apes. Even that musical tribute evokes strong reactions, whether you know those themes or not. Silver continued:
Your audience is experiencing in a different way than a crawl that they have to read, and we just felt it was important to pull people back into this world where apes speak and the world is upside down, and then we're jumping. So we're actually asking the audience to do a lot, and we just want to ground them emotionally in this world.
“Doing the homework” can also include reading crawls, title cards or any sort of text used to condense past entries or history. For some audiences, it’s just as annoying as having to keep track of several streaming series just to go to the movies. So having a short, mindful scene that pleases fans, but also gives newbies all they need to know before the next adventure, was definitely the way to go.
Why I Agree With The Choice To Show Caesar’s Funeral
As a fan, I agree with the rationale provided when it came to invoking Caesar’s death. Thinking back to the crawls from the later entries of Caesar’s Planet of the Apes timeline, there was just enough information included from the past before diving into a striking moment that would open each of the Matt Reeves-directed sequels.
So for director Wes Ball and his team to include this funereal moment at the start of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes further hones in on the visual and thematic language that’s defined the series for some time. Caesar is dead, but his story continues in the apes that descend from his efforts. So literally seeing him in the beginning gives his name the proper weight when invoked throughout Kingdom's narrative.
Of course, Kingdom is still a chance for people to jump into the Apes fandom fresh, without any problems. So whether or not you know who Koba was or why Caesar cookie-d Rocket, you can still identify with a moment of great sorrow opening the door for a potentially bright future.
Anyone who hasn’t seen the previous trilogy doesn’t need to worry about where to jump in, as both Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver have amply proven above. While we’re centuries into the future, reminding us of how his powerful legacy left off at the time of his death set the stage for a new simian revolution to take place.
Whether or not this pattern continues should Wes Ball get to fulfill his trilogy vision starting with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is yet to be seen. But if we do get to see what’s beyond the Kingdom, I’m curious what sort of scene will be used to link this well-played chapter of Apes history into whatever comes next.
For now, we’ll just have to see how Kingdom does, as the picture continues to chug along rather well at the box office. Those who want to get back to the start with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and its sequels can stream them on Hulu at the time of this publication.
